Audit focusableWhenDisabled

[vladmoroz]

• Remove focusableWhenDisabled from Menu.Trigger
• Make sure Switch and Checkbox aren't focusable when disabled
• Review any other usage of the prop

[colmtuite]

We decided at one point to allow menuitems and other components that are inside widgets (following on ARIA guidelines), to remain focusable when disabled. But other standalone components would not be focusable when disabled.

[onehanddev]

Hi @michaldudak, good morning!

I’ve been following this issue and have already begun working on it. I’m planning to open a draft PR later today. Apologies for not informing you sooner—please let me know if you’d prefer me to proceed with the PR or if you’d like to take it forward instead. I’m happy with either approach.

Thanks, and I look forward to your guidance!

cc: @vladmoroz

[michaldudak]

@onehanddev feel free to continue with the PR.

Our current idea for this is:

• Every component that has a roving tabindex (so currently menu items and radio buttons and tabs) should be focusable when disabled
• Buttons, checkboxes, switches, and other "standalone" components should not be focusable when disabled.
• This behavior should not be customizable (at least for now; we can revisit this if users need it)

[onehanddev]

@michaldudak Thanks for the detailed information on this issue. I have a quick question regarding point 1. You mentioned that radio buttons should be focusable when disabled, but the default behaviour of radio buttons doesn’t allow for that functionality. When we focus on a single radio button, it automatically selects the option. Did you mean that we should be able to focus on a radio group when it’s disabled?

[onehanddev]

I was wondering, if we allow focus on a disabled ‘Tab’, what content should be displayed beneath it? Should it show the content from the previously selected tab, or should there be no content at all? If there is no content, would that cause a layout shift issue?

Is it okay if I start by creating a small PR for changes that don’t require much thought, such as:

1.	Removing focusableWhenDisabled from Menu.Trigger
2.	Ensuring that Switch and Checkbox components aren’t focusable when disabled

@michaldudak @colmtuite

[onehanddev]

Could you please review the PR at this link? I plan to work on components with roving tabindexes in a separate PR once I gain a clearer understanding of how to approach it (please refer to my earlier comments).

I would appreciate any suggestions or feedback regarding my work, as this is my first time contributing to open source, and I want to ensure I’m on the right track. Thank you!

[michaldudak]

Hi! Good point about radio buttons and tabs in the activateOnFocus mode. The ARIA spec doesn't mention anything about disabled items in radio groups. I'd say we can skip them.
@colmtuite, @vladmoroz - any thoughts on this?

[github-actions]

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